Tech Play 1

A blog is a space on the internet that many people use as an outlet.  Personally, I had a family blog, back in 2008, when blogs were all the rage.  I used it as a way to reach out to and keep faraway family, that might not use social media, up to date on my life.  During this time period, there were several other blogs that I visited on a regular basis.  Many of those blogs dealt with a passion the creator had, i.e. The Pioneer Woman.  Ree Drummond become a successful household name by creating a blog that included step-by-step instructions along with pictures to turn people’s cooking into easy-to-make meals.  She has successfully used her blogging platform to expand her empire from her small town including: a tv show, restaurant, and cookware in a big box store, to name a few, all while starting with a blog to connect with an audience that was interested in communicating about the same ideas.

The basics of blogging are the same across the board.  Start by creating a name, registering that domain name through a hosting (blogging) platform, define your blog’s purpose, and then make posts (or entries) regarding those interests.  You can categorize your posts enabling the user to search in a search bar if you choose to add it in your layout.  Customization is key in trying to stand out in this field.  You can start with the layout, font, type, and widgets to determine what will be most appealing to a visitor’s eye. Unless someone has your exact blog URL, it may or may not pop up on a search of the creator’s name (depending on the settings chosen by the user).  While this is to the benefit of the creator (keeping some items private, allowing only certain people to comment or even view the blog), it does not lead to an interactive discussion among people of the same interests.  People can leave comments, which the creator can respond to at a later date.  It does not alert the person leaving the response; therefore, it is a one-way use of information.  As mentioned earlier, I chose BlogSpot because of my previous experience with that platform.

A blog’s affordance is to connect people of similar interests.  This could be family members interested in keeping up with grandkids, a way for an adoptive family to keep the biological mother informed, to promote a certain type of cooking, or provide information on a home DIY project. It allows the learner to search for words that can help find an item easily.  If I was on a teacher’s blog, I might search for a KWL chart in a side-bar to find out if it was used successfully in the classroom and how the teacher implemented the strategy.  The time and date stamp can tell the learner when the item was posted (relevancy) and if others have commented after the entry to tell if it was useful for them. 

My initial thought in classroom application was to have small groups pick a character from a current novel and create a blog from that character’s perspective.  The TEKS covered would include the child’s knowledge and skills shown through:  relating the figurative language of a literary work to its historical and cultural setting (2C), analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view (5C), media literacy (12), and Writing components (13).  By providing students with a rubric, assignment page, and example, I could expect results to display the components mentioned previously and several others.  Not only is the student using media to create the project, they are analyzing the character through review of text and applying that knowledge in a group discussion leading to the creation of a modern blog for their particular character.

This pedagogical approach of analyzing and applying is a way to get the students to interpret text and transform it into a modern time period. I have attended several workshops on low Staar scores.  Struggling students have a hard time finding concrete text to back their responses.  Students would find specific text to support their character’s views on issues, identify if their decision was made on direct or indirect characterization, and create a tie to modern day Hollywood with the choice of character and wardrobe in modern day society.  For example, if the character was a southern belle, the diction and views of the character to modern issues would create a different response than those of an immigrant during the 1800s. This answers the question of relevancy in today’s world along with working on TEKS that are challenging.

Giving the character a voice through a blogging medium allows the student to use technology to connect with other “characters” of the same novel.  These other characters could comment on blog posts in the retaining the same voice and style, allowing students to model their full knowledge of their character analysis.  Writing components from planning, writing, editing, and revising would be used along with a display of historical context and characterization.

One obstacle I see is that there is not an instant interaction regarding this medium.  Students would have to post and wait for a response from another group.  If students are not computer literate or had not created a blog before, this activity may be too time consuming to complete in the classroom.  By using a group, hopefully there would be enough technology knowledge to complete the task.  A blog would allow students to have characters from a novel agree/disagree on certain topics (points of view) and form new character relationships by thinking about the book in a different light.